Cold
by Mitsje
Summary: Kaede makes Kagome collect some herbs during heavy rain. She catches a cold, and maybe something else... so far slightest SESSxKAG ever. Rated T for slight sexual implications. More as inspiration wills it.
1. Chapter 1

I do not own anyting. Just this story, some clothes, half a brain, and a computer. This was inspired by watching Bolt ((c) Disney) last night. The scene where he- well, just read it.

* * *

It was starting to rain. She sighed as the raindrops pelted her, making her hair stick to her face and back. She had been waiting for InuYasha to come and pick her up at the well, but after 1 hour, 51 minutes and, she checked her watch, 49 seconds, she decided he wasn't coming. She didn't want to know what is was that was keeping him busy.

"Probably some youkai attacking the village…"she thought to herself with a wry smile.

So, instead of getting even wetter, she hoisted her trusty yellow backpack on her shoulders and started in the direction of the village.

Safely arriving there, against all odds, Kaede informed her that the rest of the group had travelled to a village up north, as Naraku's henchmen had been sighted there. Deciding to waste no time, they had left midday the day before.

"Great, so what do I do now?"  
"Ye can wait here, they had said they would return in two days," Kaede said, and added, waving a small piece of paper, "ye can help me get some herbs for my medicines."  
"In this rain?" Kagome asked.

At her question, there was a bright flash of lightning, followed by a loud rumble of thunder in the distance.

Kaede nodded solemly.

"Aye, child. These herbs are best harvested when wet."

Kagome pouted. Kaede held the door open for her.

Grumbling to herself that she had left her umbrella at home, Kagome stomped out of the hut, leaving a very satisfied Kaede behind.

After about half an hour of searching, the rain steadily getting harder, Kagome came to the conclusion that she would have to venture further into the woods if she were to get the herbs specified by the old hag. She usually had a lot of respect for the elderly, but at the moment she wanted nothing more than to drag her out of that nice, comfy warm hut of hers and make her find the herbs herself. After four years of shard hunting, she was not the girl she used to be.

"Artritis my ass… you just don't want to get wet. You'd better hope I don't get-*SNEEZE* a cold. Figures."

The further from the village Kagome got, the fouler her mood became. But suddenly, fate decided to grant her a little leeway. Not far ahead, she spotted a clearing full of the herbs Kaede wanted her to get. Speeding up a bit, she may her way over. At the edge of the clearing, though, something caught her eye.

A tall figure dressed in white was standing at the other side of the little field.

Kagome faltered. What the hell was he doing there? Was he guarding the herbs or something? Were they his? Was she going to have to fight him over them? Because, if that were so, Kaede could put her stupid little list where the sun didn't shine, but no way was she risking her life over some herbs.

On closer inspection, however, he didn't seem to be doing anything. He was just, standing there, eyes closed, head tilted up and damp hair slightly sticking to his back. And, was she imagining things, or was there an ever so faint smile on his lips?

This needed further investigation, for sure. As quietly as she could, Kagome crept closer to him along the edge of the clearing. When she got about halfway, she noticed with a start that his armor had been discarded and was laying between the trees behind him. The rain was soaking his white haori, which, in turn, was clinging to his body. Kagome blushed. Not much was left to the imagination. She glanced down at her own soaked uniform. Well, at least they were even.  
Going on until she was sure he would detect her if she got any closer, she sat down between the undergrowth and observed him. She had never seen him so relaxed. His nose up in the air, catching the raindrops, he reminded her of her neighbors' dog on rainy days. Wait a second… neighbors' _dog_?

She couldn't help it. She felt it coming up from her stomach, and was unable to keep it in. It started as a grin, but quickly grew into a silent chuckle, making her shoulders shake, and eventually, a small snort rang through the clearing.

Sesshoumaru's eyes shot open and he turned to where she was sitting. She could have sworn she actually shrunk a bit when his eyes made contact with hers. She prayed for a swift end as he made to cross the distance between them, and closed her eyes.

"Miko," came his voice from somewhere above her, "stand."

Unable to deny his order, she stood, shaking from head to toe. She wondered vaguely if it was due to the cold, the fear or that she was now staring straight at his chest, which was clearly visible through the wet fabric of his clothes. It reminded her of her own attire, and she quickly crossed her arms over her chest.

A hand came up to roughly grasp her chin and force her to look at his face. It was a lot closer than she had expected it to be.

"You shall not tell anyone about what you have witnessed this Sesshoumaru do."

He left no room for argument. She could only shake her head. He released her with a flick of his wrist, making her stumble to the ground. When she looked up at the clearing again, he was gone, along with his armor.

Quickly gathering the herbs and heading back to the village before he changed his mind and killed her yet, she tried to make her still very prominent blush go down.

When she returned to the hut, she found that the others were there as well. They were upon her immediately.

"Child, yer face is as red as a beet. Surely you did not catch a cold?" Kaede asked, putting on her concerned face.  
"Uh, yeah, I did," Kagome said, and sneezed for some emphasis.

As InuYasha started cussing at Kaede for making her go out in this weather, Sango gave her a blanket, Miroku made her some tea and Shippou climbed in her lap, she couldn't shake the imaging of wet silk clinging to shapely chests from her mind. This cold was going to take more than a few days to get over.


	2. Chapter 2

It had been months since that fateful day of herb-fetching. Yet every single time it rained, Kagome's mind was occupied with flashbacks of it. And, worst of all, it had prompted her to think of other dog mannerisms Sesshoumaru might display. One day, when they were taking shelter from the rain on the edge of some, undoubtedly youkai infested, forest, she could not keep her thoughts from wandering off.

'I wonder if he would shake himself dry after bathing… Or hang his head out of a car window. If he lives long enough to see one, that is…'

Her musings were cut short when Shippou launched himself into her lap and started whining about InuYasha being mean to him. She patted him on the head half-heartedly and gave him a lollipop to shut him up. Kids these days... With the tiny fox content for the time being, her mind focused back on her previous subject of scrutiny.

'Would his fluffy thingamajig start wagging if he was –God forbid- happy?'

Her shoulder was being shook. Lifting her head from her palm, her eyes focused on the face of Sango. She seemed concerned.

"Have you caught another cold, Kagome-san? You look a little flushed."

This only served for the blush to deepen, as Kagome's hands flew to her cheeks to hide her embarrassment.

"Ah! No, Sango-chan, I'm all right. But… could I ask you about demon habits?"

"Sure. What do you want to know?"

"Well… you know that in my time people keep dogs as pets, right? I was wondering if dog-demons would have the same mannerisms as domestic dogs."

"To a certain extent, I think they do, yes. Like how InuYasha uses his hands to dig holes. But why are you asking this?"

Kagome shrugged. "Just curious, I guess."

Sango laughed. "Well, you don't have to bring InuYasha any bones. Just ramen will do."

"Haha, yeah, ramen…" Kagome said distractedly.

As Sango walked off again, the next thought had already formulated itself in her head.

'Would his leg start shaking if I rubbed his belly?'


	3. Chapter 3

I don't own InuYasha, or any of the characters used in this story.

* * *

Progress with the Shikon shards was slowing down. Where they used to get a new shard every week or so, now they could go months without finding one. This meant that Naraku had most, if not all, of the remaining shards, and that they would have to fight him very soon.

Kagome was pleased with this. Not that it was something to look forward to, but it definitely kept her mind occupied and away from…other things.

Winter had come, and brought with it some heavy snowstorms. Because of this, traveling had become almost impossible, and Kagome was spending more time on her side of the well to try and salvage some of her grades. This, of course, did not sit well with InuYasha.

"…stay here! We need you for sensing the shards!"

"InuYasha…"

"What do you need these 'gurades' for anyway? They won't do you any good fighting!"

"InuYasha…"

"That's what you _should_ do! Train yourself! You could use the practice!"

"SIT!"

It wasn't so much the quantity, but the intensity that sent the red-clad boy crashing to the ground and creating a peculiar sort of snow-angel. Kagome took the time it would take him to get up to grab her bag and make a break for the well. Waving goodbye to Sango, Miroku and Shippo, she started up the little hill that led to the forest.

As she reached the top, where the forest began, it started to snow.

Trudging through the already knee-high pack of snow that had fallen earlier in the week, she wrestled her way to the well. They had been so clever to board the opening up so that the snow could not fall into it and tamper with the magic in any way. Kagome had insisted this was completely unnecessary, but Sango and Miroku had stated that they wanted to do _something_ at least, so she should just let them do as they pleased.

Now, however, the wooden board was packed with snow, and too heavy for Kagome to move all at once. On the brink of throwing a terrible hissy fit, Kagome threw her backpack off, rolled up her sleeves and set to work all the snow off.

When she was about halfway, her fingers were about as red as tomatoes, and her mood wasn't getting much better. Huffing and puffing, trying to get some feeling back into her poor digits, she almost missed her miko-senses tingling with the nearing presence of youki.

"Great," Kagome thought miserably, "just what I need."

Grabbing ones bow and notching an arrow on it is easier said than done when ones fingers are completely numb. As she fumbled to get her fingers to cooperate, who else than the great Lord of the West should stroll casually into the clearing.

Kagome gave up trying to get her weapon into position, and simply stared for a moment, perplexed at the unfairness of it all. There he was, looking as pristine as ever, as though he was scaring the snowflakes away from his proximity, and there she was, pants practically frozen from the knees down, fingers not quite turning black from frostbite and snot just barely concealed in her completely ready to run nose.

This was the last straw.

Dropping the bow from her hands and bending down to scoop up a handful of snow, it briefly crossed her mind that she was probably not going to get away with this. Packing the snow into a firm ball, she giggled almost hysterically to herself. Nope, she sure as hell wasn't going to live for very long after this. Weighing the ball in one hand, she decided she couldn't care less on a day like this. Lobbing the ball in his general direction, she called out to him.

"Fetch!"

Sesshoumaru, on his end, was quite stunned. He had watched the miko gather the snow and make a ball of it, but he hadn't even begun to think of the possibility that she might actually throw it. Especially not in his direction. As the little white sphere was quickly gaining ground on him, he pondered what he should do. Avoid it, catch it, melt it with poison or just stand there and let himself get hit? He decided that the puny attempt to mar him was not deserving of an action from him, and that he should just ignore it.

Kagome followed the projectile of her doom as it zoomed closer to Sesshoumaru, and wondered why he wasn't moving or doing anything to disintegrate it. Mortified, she watched as it got closer and closer, until not even Sesshoumaru would have a chance of avoiding it. She squinted her eyes, preparing for the blow that would end her life as the snowball went 'thud' on his left shoulder.

Now, Sesshoumaru faced a different problem. As parts of the ball slid down his shoulder and under his armor, he was finding it quite difficult to keep his composure and not hop around madly to get the cold snow, now almost all water, out of his clothes and away from his person. But, by sheer will power, he managed to ride it out, and as the last of it melted and adjusted to his body temperature, he fixed the miko with a glare that would have chilled her more than the snow. That is, of course, if she had seen it.

Kagome was still standing with her eyes practically shut, waiting for Sesshoumaru to kill her. A few moments went by, and she carefully opened one eye to see what he was doing. Only to find him gone from the clearing. Confused, she opened her other eye as well, quite widely, and looked around to see where he had gone. Not a trace was to be found. Deciding that she should take this happy break, the shoved the rest of the snow off of the lid as fast as she could, gathered her bag, and prepared to jump in. She never saw it coming.

A snowball so hard it was practically a lump of ice hit her in the back of the head, with a force that caused her to lose her balance. As she toppled over the edge of the well and fell towards her home, she heard it.

"Fetch."


	4. Chapter 4

I am currently writing to Rumiko Takahashi to sign over the rights of InuYasha to me. So far, no luck.

* * *

While Kagome had managed to convince InuYasha to let her go home for Christmas, he was not so lenient about New Years' Eve.

'Kagome, you _just_ got back! Now you're telling me you want to go home _again_?! Do you even _want_ to complete the jewel?!'

While that had earned him a nice mouthful of snow and gravel, InuYasha kept his foot down. So, Kagome sighed and decided that he was kind of right, in his own, stupid and shortsighted way. Nevertheless, she wasn't going to spend the night without fireworks.

The last day of the year found Kagome trying to wrestle her big, yellow backpack out of the well. She had snuck out of Kaede's hut earlier to go to her own time and buy all sorts of fireworks, which now made her backpack almost burst at the seams.

InuYasha came to get her. He was not so pleased that she disappeared for a few hours while he was trying to peacefully eat his last batch of ramen, but his foul mood quickly evaporated when Kagome dangled a plastic bag full of the savory noodles in front of his face.

Darkness fell, and while Kagome tried to tell them they were supposed to wait until midnight, the group was far too eager to see the spectacle from the future. She sighed, and started to root around for some small fireworks. She also handed some earmuffs to InuYasha, Shippo and Kirara.

'What the hell are these for?' InuYasha grumbled.

'You'll see,' said Kagome as the she adjusted Shippo's pair to better cover his ears.

They all went outside and gathered around Kagome as she wedged a bottle into the snow and made sure it would not fall over before putting in a rocket and lighting it. Everyone stared as the fuse got closer to the gunpowder casing and eventually reached it. Nothing happened for a moment.

'That's it? That's your stupid future fire-'

InuYasha didn't get to finish his sentence, and he scrambled to press the earmuffs tighter onto his ears as the rocket went up with a loud screech and ended in an even louder bang somewhere above the trees. Kagome smiled.

'That's what they are for.'

He could only nod, still staring stupidly at the point where the rocked had evaporated.

The later it got, the heavier the fireworks became. Kagome explained that lighting fireworks was a tradition to sound in the New Year and ward off the demons so as to have a good start. InuYasha grumbled that it was a failsafe way of accomplishing that and clamped his earmuffs even tighter over his ears as Kagome lighted another piece of firework. As it exploded in a multitude of colors, everyone's eyes were suddenly fixed on the forest instead of the air.

'Something's coming,' Miroku said in a low voice.

While they had all sensed all the youkai in the area gradually removing themselves from the nasty bangs and whistles, now there was one coming at them with great speed. It took a few moments for InuYasha to sniff him out over the vapors of gunpowder, but he finally yelled that it was his bastard of a brother a few moments before said bastard burst out of the trees with a livid look on his face.

Kagome hadn't seen him since the fetch-incident, and she was lightly tempted to throw another snowball, but decided against it on the grounds that he already looked ready to kill and needed no further provoking. Miroku was the first to speak.

'To what do we owe the pleasure of your visit, Sesshoumaru-sama?' he drawled.

'This Sesshoumaru demands to know what you are doing, and that you cease it immediately,' Sesshoumaru said in a dangerous voice.

Kagome was the first to realize that he could probably hear the sounds of the fireworks from wherever he was, and that it could not have been pleasant on his sensitive hearing. She bent down, rummaged around in her backpack and drew out a little plastic bag. Fisting it, she walked over to the ticked off taiyoukai, ignoring the calls of her friends, and held the little package out to him.

He straightened up to his full height and glared down his nose at her, but she wasn't the least bit scared of him. Well, maybe a little. But she sighed, and opened the little bag herself. Inside were two bright orange Styrofoam cones. She held them out to him. His glare got worse, but he took them from her hand.

'They go in your ears,' she whispered so that only he could hear her,' They'll muffle the sounds.'

Sesshoumaru glared at her for a moment longer, but then he perplexed them all by actually plugging up his ears with them. He was mortified by the change. Suddenly, he could no longer hear the stream that ran a little ways away from here, or the soft thumping of snow falling from over-laden branches in the distance of the forest, or even the breathing from the group of sorry little persons right in front of him. Even his voice sounded alien to him as he spoke again.

'Miko, what have you done to this Sesshoumaru?'

'Wait a moment, I'll show you,' she said.

As Kagome hurried to find something to light up, Sesshoumaru wondered if this was all that humans could hear. He almost pitied them for it. His attention was drawn by a spark coming from the direction of the miko, and he watched as a small length of rope burned closer and closer to a small container of some sort. He narrowed his eyes as the flame got inside of the container, and only barely managed to contain his surprise as it suddenly shot up into the air with impressive speed, and, once at some height, exploded into a bright blue ball of sparks.

The miko had been right, however, in that the sound now didn't bother him so much. He gave her a curt nod, before disappearing into the forest. The little group stared after him, and then resumed their activities as if he had not been there at all. But he didn't go far. Instead, he reined in his youki and jumped up a tree so he could watch the miko's magics from a distance.

* * *

Happy New Years Everyone! See you in 2010!


	5. Chapter 5

By the end of January, the snow had let up a bit and was only still clinging to some patches of grass. However, the cold had decided that it quite liked spending winter in Japan, and so the temperatures remained close to freezing.

Kagome was sulking. She did not take very well to cold things. Sure, snow was nice, if it didn't stay for very long, and ice cream had its merit, but you mostly ate that in summer. Summer was more her kind of season, she decided as she wrapped her scarf around her face so tight she nearly cut off circulation to her ears. Which were already numb from the cold. Why, oh why did she have to lend Sango her earmuffs?

They had been travelling north for a few days now. Going North was really the last thing Kagome wanted to do in these already arctic weather conditions, but Naraku had been signaled up there and as the only shards that were still moving about where those of Kohaku and themselves, they had little choice but to go and seek the vile hanyou out.

Since setting out from the village, she had sensed Kohaku's shard moving in their general direction, but she had not shared this with the rest. While Shippou would probably be keen on meeting up with Rin, and Sango would be overjoyed to spend some time with her little brother, another little brother would probably not be quite as rapturous. She found that InuYasha would be difficult enough when he sensed Sesshoumaru coming himself, and she wanted to put that of for as long as she could. She didn't even know what she felt about him seeking them out. Ever since that fateful morning in the rain, she had been thrown into a fit of girlish giggles when it rained, she could not keep a straight face whenever she saw a big white dog on a leash when she was in her time, and that one time when she saw one of those dogs coming out of a lake and shaking itself dry, she had almost wet herself. Kagome did not really know what to make of these feelings and thoughts that kept swarming into her head all the time, but she thought it best to just ignore them as best as she could. Therefore, it would not help her if the source of said thoughts came waltzing into their midst.

On the other hand, he did owe her a pair of earplugs.

That night, they had to sleep outside. They had yet to pass through the mountains, which would be riddled with caves, but the forest they were in was not so rich in shelters. While InuYasha hunted for some food and Miroku and Sango got a fire going, Kagome fumbled with some extra blankets, ropes and sturdy tree branches to try and conjure up a makeshift tent. As her third attempt crumbled into a pitiful heap on the cold ground, she cursed herself for not watching more survivor programs on tv. Finally deciding it was not worth the effort, she handed everyone one of the blankets and crawled into her sleeping bag early to get it all warmed up before going to sleep. Inuyasha returned empty handed and so they ate noodles, relishing in the warmth they provided. As everyone got ready to turn in for the night, InuYasha left to patrol around camp for the night.

Kagome shivered in her sleeping bag. The others were already fast asleep, but it was just too cold to be comfortable enough to fall asleep. It didn't matter how close she was to fire, how many layers she wore over her pajamas or how she thought of hot chocolate, the ground she was laying on may as well have been an ice rink. Eventually though, fatigue caught up with her and she could no longer keep her eyes open.

The next morning, she awoke to somebody yelling at the top of their lungs about something. After spending years in the feudal era, she had become used to this, and, she decided, if it were something mortally perilous, somebody would just have to come and save, because there was no way she was getting out of her very warm and comfortable little bed. Kagome turned to her side, trying to block out the indignant screaming, and closed her eyes to further enjoy the overall feeling of content she had woken up to. Then her thoughts caught up with her.

Sitting bolt upright, she stared at the source of the warmth she had been feeling. Being big, fuzzy and white, she had a nagging feeling she had seen it before somewhere, but that it had looked quite a bit different, more intimidating then. Also, if it were actually what she was thinking of, it must have the ability to move on its own, as the owner of said it would probably not have left it in her care.

By now, their camp had gone silent, and Kagome glanced around, only to see a lividly seething InuYasha, as red in the face as his own clothes were, a mildly startled and confused looking Sango, a slight grin on Miroku's face and actually a bit scared looking Shippou.

'Kagome, why the he-' InuYasha started, but Kagome cut him off.

'I don't know, I don't care why, I'm just happy to be warm and comfortable again. Let's get this camp cleared up and get going.'

'Kagome-sama…'

'Miroku, I really don't want to discuss it right now. I have no idea why this is here, or why it is with me, so let's just let it be, ok?'

Miroku nodded, and they set to work in silence. InuYasha was still raging inside, everyone could tell, and it would not be long before he had to blow off some steam, but Kagome ignored him. As they got onto the road again, she slung the furry boa around her shoulders and breathed in its' scent. It smelled of spices, carnations, and, very slightly, of musk. She smiled. She didn't mind the cold so much today.

* * *

Author's note: This is what happens when you force your writers block away by writing. I took the scents from this site:

. You figure out what it means =P As always, characters are © Rumiko Takahashi

Also, you can now find me on dokuga aswell, same username. was having a cow over the weekend and wouldn't let me update, or else you would have had this chapter sooner. Bah.


	6. Chapter 6

Spring had finally decided that winter had had his fun, and it was now her turn to cover the world with her sunshine and showers. All over the land, flowers and trees alike had started to bloom, coloring the world with their vivid hues. As Kagome kneeled to the ground, she found she could not properly enjoy them as she would like to, for all the flowers in the little meadow they were in had been spattered with blood. She grasped at her side, trying to stem a little of the blood flowing freely from it.

The final battle had been unleashed upon them quite unexpectedly, and they were not doing very well. They had defeated most of Naraku's minions, the rest of them had been called back as their master himself had come out to play. This did not serve to better their chances, however. Massive tentacles flowing every which way kept everyone busy. Sango was in the air on Kirara, throwing Hiraikotsu as accurate and fast as she could, severing some tentacles, but they all just seemed to sprout back as soon as they were cut off. Miroku was quick on his feet, sutras and staff swishing through the air, trying to keep himself out of harm's way. His kazana had reached it's max, and he was not going to waste it on the tentacles alone. Inuyasha was, as always, swinging Tetsusaiga around madly, trying to get as much damage done as he could. Kagome had been fring her arrows in the direction of Naraku's main body, but as she was stringing her bow once more, she had failed to notice one of his tentacles kreeping around her, and was caught by surprise as it shot past her from behind, catching her exactly where she had been wounded by the centipede demon at the start of it all. She heard her name yelled by her friends as she crashed onto her knees, cradling her side with her hands. It wasn't as if she was mortally wounded, but if she could not stop the blood flow, she would surely pass out. She glanced at her surroundings, searching for something that could be used as a tourniquet. Her gaze fell upon the discarded fur she had been logging around since Sesshoumaru had left in her care. It had, while in her possession, contracted significantly more dirt than it had when it was with it's rightful owner. Kagome could not help but wonder how in the world he kept it as immaculate as he did. Deciding she should not look a gift horse in the mouth, she stumbled over to it, and bound it tightly around her waist.

"He's going to kill me for ruining it," she muttered to herself as she resumed a fighting position and notched another arrow on her bow.

It was not long before she ran out of ammunition. Staring helplessly at the fight, she could do nothing but pray for the safety of the others. Even though her friends were trying to protect her from the onslaught of the tentacles, they could not prevent one particular slithery one slipping pas their defenses, and shooting for the miko once more. Kagome screamed as the tentacle closed around her hips, and lifted her in the air, squeezing her far more tightly than was comfortable. The voices of her friends and the maniacal laughter of Naraku reached her ears.

"I have your precious miko now, InuYasha," he drawled, "what are you going to do about it?"

Beneth her, she could see InuYasha sputter and fume at Naraku's taunts, but he could not reach the tentacle that had hauled her up into the heavens. Trying to wriggle free, she only managed to aggravate her wound, making it bleed faster than it had been, and a blood stain was slowly becoming visible on the pelt around her waist. Spots appeared before her eyes, and she was starting to get dizzy. Suddenly, the grip around her loosened, and she registered faintly that she was falling. Landing with an 'oompf' in InuYasha's arms as he jumped for her, she smiled up to him.

"Thank you," she said hoarsely.

"Keh. Wasn't me," came the gruff reply.

Confused, Kagome looked over his shoulder as he sped her away from the battlefield.

There, in the middle of the clearing, in all his immaculate, regal glory, stood Sesshoumaru, flicking some of Naraku's blood of his Bakusaiga. The tentacle that had been cut off, writhed and disintegrated on the ground. Naraku glared at the DaiYoukai before discarding the part of the tentacle still attached to him, which was also disintegrating fast.

"You should have stayed out of this, Sesshoumaru," he spat, "this is not your fight!"

"You made it mine," growled Sesshoumaru.

The last thing Kagome saw before her world went black, was her savior leaping into action.

* * *

Author's note: this chapter went through some many rewrites and revisions, it's just no funny anymore. I'm still not satisfied with it, especially the really lame ending, but I am just not comfortable writing action scenes or anything even remotely related to them, so this is my lazy ticket out. Sorry for the long wait, but I have my bachelor's degree thesis to work on, and after typing over 20 pages on the coping of youths with a disabbility, I kind of had my fill of Word, and I had to take a break.


	7. Chapter 7

The first thing Kagome was aware of when she came to, were the sounds of battle not too far away. Next was her vision. Sango's worried, and still a bit blurry face, was the first thing she saw.

"How are you feeling, Kagome-chan?" Sango asked quietly.

"Light headed," she replied in a whisper, "where are the others?"

"They are still fighting. Shippo went back to Kaede's to fetch you some herbs, though."

Kagome nodded, which resulted in beautifully colored sparkles doing the cha-cha-cha in front of her eyes. Despite this, she tried to sit up, but Sango kept her down. Kagome eyed her friend angrily.

"I have to get back to them! I can help!"

"You're out of arrows, what are you going to do?"

Kagome huffed. Sure, Sango was right, all she was marginally good at was archery, she had never learned to fight with any other weapon. But still, her friends were in need, and she was not about to leave them hanging. She swatted Sango's hand away angrily, and sat up. Big, black blotches were her reward this time. Breathing heavily, she shakily stood up, using Sango as her support. She eyed the bandages around her waist, which seemed to by tied in a hurry. Sesshoumaru's pelt lay discarded to the side, evidence of her bloodloss clear to see. She was surprised to see how small the bloodstain actually was, compared to how dizzy she felt.

"Don't you want to get back to Miroku and help him?"

Feeling guilty for using emotional bribery on her friend was not going to stop her from getting her way. She could see Sango already starting to consider it. All she needed was a little nudge.

"I promise I'll stay out of sight. You can't leave me alone here, who knows what'll find me. At least when you take me with you, you'll be able to keep an eye on me."

Sango looked at her worriedly. Kagome smiled at her.

"I'll be fine, I promise."

"All right then. But you have to stay out of sight!"

Nodding carefully, so as not to upset her head anymore, Kagome stumbled alongside of Sango, as she lead her by the arm towards the sounds of the still ongoing battle.

When they got to the clearing, Sango pushed Kagome into a nearby shrubbery and told her in a very strict tone of voice not to move under any circumstances. Kagome nodded like she was a good 5-year old, and averted her eyes to the battlefield. She was happy to see Naraku was definitely having a hard time against the three males still present, but scared to see that they weren't doing so hot either. InuYasha's left arm was hanging limply at his side, probably broken in multiple places. Miroku had used up every last sutra he had prepared, and with just his staff left, he was not doing a lot of damage, but at least he had managed to stay unharmed except for a few nasty bruises.

Sesshoumaru, was, on the other hand, completely unscathed. His clothes didn't show so much as a tear or a smudge, and nothing on him betrayed that he had been in close combat for the better part of the last half hour or so. She watched as he gracefully moved out of the way of Naraku's attacks, and drive home his own blows. For a split second, he looked directly at her, before cutting off one of the tentacles Naraku still had left. She felt as if she had been caught doing something defiant or incredibly stupid, which, in effect, she was, and a blush crept up her cheeks.

Still, the battle went on, and with Sango now back in play, Naraku had it worse than before. She cheered silently as more and more parts of Naraku started to disintegrate, faster than he could re-grow them. She could not help but grin as Naraku bore a scowl that could scare a hyena away from a fresh carcass. She watched, disgusted, as he reached into himself with his right hand, right next to where his heart would have been had he had one, and extracted his part of the jewel. As he palmed it, a deranged grin formed his mouth.

Suddenly, a ripple seemed to move through the clearing, through her body itself. The pouch she had around her neck, containing the shards they had painstakingly gathered, pulsed in response. It levitated itself above her chest, and started to pull against the chain it was tethered to. She grabbed onto it, clenching it tightly between her hands, and pulled it back against her body. When she looked up again, Naraku was right in front of her.

"Thought you could hide from me, little miko?" he asked in a sickeningly sweet tone.

She could hear InuYasha berating Sango for bringing her back in the background as they all made a mad dash for her, but she knew that they would not make it in time. Drones of saimyoshi had appeared out of nowhere, keeping them from reaching her. Naraku's grin only grew in response to their frantic yelling.

"Together again. Do not think I will make the same mistake twice, Ka-go-me."

An explosion in the background. Pieces of wasps flying everywhere. An outraged howl, but from which of the brothers, Kagome could not tell. It did not seem to faze her nemesis.

"I wonder what your friends would do, if I were to do…" He trailed off, suddenly grabbing her by the neck at unimaginable speed, turning around and spinning her in front of him.

"…this," he whispered dangerously.

All she saw was a flash of silver in front of her, and then there was pain, indescribable, searing pain, that spread from her stomach outwards. Eyes wide with shock, she looked down, only to see Bakusaiga buried up to the hilt in her stomach. Looking back up, she stared into Sesshoumaru's face. His expression betrayed nothing, but his eyes spoke to her. They betrayed his surprise, his fear and his regret.

She smiled at him. Blood gushed out between her teeth. Behind her, she could hear Naraku gurgling and gasping for breath. A strange sensation around the wound told her the flesh around it was getting infected and starting to dissolve. InuYasha was screaming, Sango was crying while Miroku tried to comfort her. Sesshoumaru was still staring at her. Naraku was sputtering out his last breath in her neck.

"You got him," she whispered as her legs started to give away. He caught her effortlessly, sliding Naraku off his sword and to the ground, but not her. It would only speed up the bleeding.

"I ruined your pelt," she ground out, trying to stay awake, "I bled all over it."

"It is of no consequence," he murmured. It might have been her senses failing her, but she swore he hugged her tighter, careful not to hurt her further than he had.

"It's ok," she told him, almost choking on her own blood.

The sounds were the first to go. All she could hear was her own frantic heartbeat, along with his steady one. Everything else had gone silent. Next was her touch. All she felt was a cold numbness. She strained to keep a focus on Sesshoumaru's face, but she was fighting a lost battle. Smiling at him once more, she closed her eyes.

"I'll be fine," she whispered, "I'll be fine, I promise."

* * *

AN: I don't own anything, just this story. This will be the last chapter of Cold, I might do a sequel, but... well, we'll see. I hope I didn't let you down too much on this, suddenly turning it into a drama-fic and all that, but it just seemed right this way. This whole story is dedicated to Shimaira, who, even though I forgot her birthday, helped me write this last chapter.


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